Evaluation of reasons of the damages after Simav and Van (2011) earthquakes

Abstract

Turkey is located on a region with high seismicity. The intense seismic activity in 2011, especially Simav and Van earthquakes, once again reminded of this fact. The aim of this study is to give information on the causes of the heavy damage and loss of lives after these earthquakes which are not incompliance with engineering principles. Based on the investigations, the damaged buildings are found to have similar deficiencies as inadequate detailing, material properties, faults in application and design. The most important reasons of the collapses are insufficient strength of joint regions and lap splice lengths. The following flaws are: inadequacies in amount or/and detailing of the lateral reinforcements, short column, overhang and soft story effects, deficient isolation applications and gable wall construction, low concrete strength, pounding and collision between buildings and faulty load bearing system designs. The other remarkable observations after the earthquakes are: the dependency of the seismic damages to some other parameters beside distance to the epicenter, adequate performances of the retrofitted buildings, total collapse of even shear-wall buildings with heavy flaws, buildings with high concrete strength may be heavily damaged, buildings with flexible load carrying system may take significant architectural damage without structural, for moderate and heavy damages 4-5 story buildings are the most damaged ones, even the multi story adobe buildings that are built in accordance with technical provisions may survive the earthquake without damage, therefore the main reason for the devastation is the violation of the engineering principles.